"strawberry is definitely the best, come on!"

"but blueberry-"

"cinnamon is better than both, so shut up."

with that, eliza tossed a box of cinnamon pop-tarts into the cart and sashayed away, a small grin flitting over her lips. behind her, james and thomas shared a look, then, pushing the cart together, they followed her, gaping like idiots.

when they caught up to eliza, she had dropped the smirk and was grinning happily. with a laugh, she jumped onto the front of the cart. "do you know what's next on the list?" she asked playfully.

james groaned and rolled his eyes as thomas grinned.

"mac and cheese!" they shouted together.

"i don't know these people, i am not associated with them in any way, i do not know who they are." james muttered, but he was smiling.

eliza hopped off of the cart, linking her arm with james's as they walked through the aisles.

suddenly letting out a gasp, she let go of james and turned around, walking backward. "james..." she began, blinking innocently.

sighing, he raised an eyebrow. "lizzy."

"can we get ice cream?"

next to james, thomas let out a bark of laughter and james shook his head, grinning.

in other circumstances, eliza probably would have just grabbed it herself, but given that she didn't have a job and therefore couldn't help pay for groceries, she didn't want to make thomas and james buy everything that she decided she wanted. they were already doing enough, having let her live with them for the last week or so. she refused to be a burden.

"so?" she prompted, giving james her best puppy eyes.

james nodded, grinning ruefully. "fine, we can get..."

suddenly the smile slid off of james's face, and he looked almost scared of eliza. no. not eliza. something behind her.

"james?" she glanced at thomas, who was glaring over her shoulder. "are you-"

"eliza?"

the voice was familiar. she knew who it was before she even turned around.

that didn't stop the lump in her throat or the emptiness in her chest when she actually saw him.

alexander.

[idk which is scarier; me actually updating or alexander showing up.]